Housing in Örebro

I started hunting accommodation in Örebro very late. I really didn’t think it would be that hard as I didn’t have any experience in living abroad before. It took me about three months to find my current accommodation and I was in three temporary accommodations before this, including the emergency accommodation by Örebro Student Union. I found the current accommodation through ÖrebroBostäder (ÖBO) after obtaining the Swedish personal number and entering the student accommodation queue of ÖBO.

ÖS emergency accommodation process: So, after the welcome reception by the international office on 'Welcome day', me and my husband embarked on a grand tour of Almby Campus area including Tybblegatan. We met a girl there (probably a student) and asked her whether she knew about any vacant housing options. She was the one that told us that Örebro Student Union might be able to help us with some emergency accommodation. So, we went to the Union and it was open, Annelie accepted our applications for emergency accommodation and told us that she would update us as soon as possible. That was on 28th of August, and we went back to the hostel we were in at that time. On the morning of the 29th she emailed us saying that she found an emergency accommodation and we visited the place that same evening and moved in next day. So, the process took only a couple of days for me and the accommodation was not that far from the university, about 6 or 7km from campus.

My BEST tip for the new students who are looking for housing in Örebro would be to start your search as early as possible and explore multiple housing options. And also:

• Look into private rentals and sublets as students sublet their rooms during internships and exchange semesters. 
• Use Facebook and student networks, especially current students, might lead to good housing leads. 
• Be flexible with housing options and you might need to compromise initially. Finding short- term accommodation first can give you time to search for something more suitable once you are settled. 
• And be aware of scams as scams targeting students are common, so avoid deals that seem too good to be true and never send money beforehand.

About a month or so after I got my notification of acceptance I started to make an overview of what options there were: go through list of private companies and check out their websites, browse Blocket and Facebook. I started to respond to advertisements around May/June.

K2A was already on my radar since it was advertised as one of the few housing companies that doesn’t require you to have a personal number, and the rent prices seemed fair. I was waiting to see if any of their apartments would be free from August, as that would be the best timing for me, but at one point I saw that the only apartments advertised at the time would be available starting either July or September. I then (this was early June) made the decision to try to secure an apartment from July, and within a day I received a notification that I was assigned an apartment. I only had to click to accept it after.

My best tips for new students looking for housing in Örebro:

• Start on time with getting an overview of the housing options so that by the time you actually want to start to secure an apartment, you won’t still have to go through that process first. Also, some housing websites work with point systems, so the longer you’re registered, the higher your chances of a place are. Regarding private companies, the best for internationals without a personal number are, I think, K2A and Asplunds. 
• Private landlords can give you a better deal, but it’s good to be aware of scammers. I know a couple of people who just rent a room in the house of a Swedish older person. They tend to pay little rent (around 4000 SEK) and sometimes can use a bicycle that the owner has lying around. So this can be quite perfect, but it’s best to make sure to have a video call with the landlord beforehand to make sure you’re not getting scammed.
• If you end up with K2A, try to arrange a key pickup date with them on time. For Swedes, the keys are mailed to their current addresses, but foreigners have to arrange a pickup, and it would be a shame to arrive with your suitcases, unable to enter your apartment. So best to be prepared to avoid stressful situations. 

I arrived to Örebro the 17th of August 2022, I started looking for an accommodation by the end of June and signed my contract in early July!

I started to look at landlords renting student accommodation thanks to the recommendations found on the university website. I just emailed every landlord asking if they were taking students without a personnummer. One of them, Asplund Fastigheter, answered me the next day, told me it was no problem for them and proposed to send me a contract to enter the apartment on the 17th (the same day I arrived in the city ). I liked what the apartment was looking like in the photos found on their website thus I signed the contract ! It was a very easy and simple process on my side.

My best tips for new students looking for housing in Örebro:

• Be bold! Just send them an email even if the website says you need to register, create an account or get in a queue. I never heard of people having problems with the student accommodations near University, it may be scary to get an accommodation, even more without visiting, but here I never heard of problems on that side (it's not because i never heard of it that it can't happen, just in 3 years in Örebro never heard of it). 
• Most of the accommodations come without furniture. Try to have a look on Facebook marketplace or at least find something to sleep on if you arrive too late to go to IKEA.
• Also, bring a bit of decoration from home. As a foreigner, having some decoration from where you're from can help if you feel a bit down or homesick.

Right after I was accepted at the university, I started looking into which platforms are being used to rent apartments in Sweden in general. I found Blocket (similar to Craigslist), which is used to buy/sell all kinds of things, but also has a platform called Qasa specifically for housing. My program started in September, and I started to contact potential landlords in April. I also looked into other platforms but found that the offers on Qasa, mostly from private landlords, were most affordable for me. Also, it was important for me to find a fully furnished place, so that limited my options.

The room I am renting for my time in Örebro, I found on Qasa. I ended up only renting a single room in a shared apartment with another girl, so a have company and can practice my Swedish. It took me a couple of months to find the right place that was available, affordable and close to both the university and the city center. I had many video calls with potential landlords, getting to know them, the housing situation and getting a virtual viewing of the homes. One of them I liked best, however it took another couple of weeks to finalize the contract. First, I was worried about signing a contract about a home I had never seen in person, I was scared of getting scammed. But Qasa offers the option to make a contract through their system (a bit more expensive than the regular rent!), so that both the landlord and me would have insurance in case anything happened. But the girl renting out my room and I decided to trust each other and made the contract ourselves. All in all, it took me about 3 months from casually looking until I had secured my room with a contract.

My best tips for new students looking for housing in Örebro:

• Look for a place that best fits your needs and don’t rush the decision. Coming from an area where it is almost impossible to find an apartment at all, I was tempted to take any offer I could. But I soon realized that the housing market in Örebro seems quite chill to me. I never had to queue for a viewing or “audition” with many other people for a place. So: define for yourself what you want for your time in Örebro. Be very close to university? To supermarkets? Are you taking the bus/bike/car?
• And remember that compared to other countries, I was surprised how late housing gets offered in the open market. I found most landlords put up their offers quite late, over the summer even, for renting them out for the fall semester. So don’t panic if you don’t find many offers right after being admitted in spring. Many students finish their studies in June, right before Swedish summer break. So it might be helpful looking around May/June, when landlords look for someone new to rent to!

Henrique from Brazil (left), Cherry from China (middle) and Joseph from Kenya (right) all live together on campus, in a building called The Oak. They all study different programmes, and come from different ends of the world but the share the same enthusiasm over the co-living lifestyle in Örebro. 

During a Swedish cinnamon bun baking session, the three students discussed their experiences of moving to Sweden and signing up for a shared corridor accommodation on campus. Since they are all non-European students, they had the opportunity to apply for housing via the university - a process which they all agreed was simple and smooth. When being asked on their thoughs of shared living spaces they all were very positive to the lifestyle: 

• "I’m a people-person so I prefer to live with others. It’s a good thing for me to have people around. It keeps me organized, you’re in a routine with everyone. You co-live and adapt together." - Henrique.
• "Every morning you have a morning routine with everyone, greeting each other. Everyone is so friendly. In the evenings we gossip a little bit. Every day is just so lovely." - Cherry. 
• "I never really fully appreciated the importance of living with roommates. It is the most important thing – talking to each other. Share stories, dreams. Birthdays are really fun here." - Joseph.
• “Living in shared dorm with other int. master’s students is like a family.” said Joseph.
• “It’s like a sitcom!” added Henrique. “You know – ‘what happens when you put a Kenyan, Chinese, Nepali and Brazilian together?’”.
• "You adapt to learning from different people. I mean, I had never even met a Brazilian before!" - Joseph.